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The Hinrich Foundation Sustainable Trade Index 2018

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Yet the enthusiasm in Asia for trade does not appear to have waned. This broad societal consensus behind international trade has enabled Asian countries to continue broadening and deepening existing trading relationships, for example, by quickly hammering out a deal for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in early 2018 following the US’s withdrawal from its predecessor in 2017.

Sustainability: The missing link

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Traditionally, most businesses have sought to become more sustainable by making changes within the bounds of their direct operational control—they might switch to renewable energy sources or hybrid vehicles, or reduce paper or electricity use. Today, however, companies increasingly find that the biggest improvements can be made within their extended supply chains. This could entail setting sustainability standards, adopting new technologies to increase accountability or helping suppliers to become more sustainable.

Sustainability: Technology-enabled

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Companies are starting to discover how they can incorporate new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain or the Internet of Things (IoT) to advance their environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts and the way they report on them.

Sustainability: Moving the conversation forward

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How sustainability is understood by businesses and investors has changed dramatically since it was first considered within corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the 1960s. It has grown from being an annual report to shareholders of the actions taken in relation to a company’s broader social and ethical obligations to become an integral part of many companies’ business strategies.

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Food 4.0

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As Asia’s food producers aim to meet the demands of a growing population, they are also fighting against the “four horsemen” of climate change: increasing temperatures, decreasing rainfall, extreme adverse weather events and the environmental consequences of decades of intensive land use.

The IPCC report: an insurmountable challenge or a global opportunity?

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The latest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes a compelling case for world leaders to strive to keep global temperature rises to within 1.5 degrees Celsius. Achieving such a target will require very challenging emission cuts across all economic sectors but recent progress provides a strong basis from which more ambitious action can be taken argues Nick Molho, executive director of the Aldersgate Group.

Fixing Asia's food system

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What will Asian food systems look like in 2030? There is no simple answer to this question, because Asia encompasses a complex mix of countries, divided by borders, policies, cultures, uneven development and other socioeconomic differences. There is no single “Asian” food system, and Asia cannot be analysed as a single entity.

Fixing Asia's food system

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The urgency for change in Asia's food system comes largely from the fact that Asian populations are growing, urbanising and changing food tastes too quickly for many of the regions’ food systems to cope with. Asian cities are dense and are expected to expand by 578m people by 2030. China, Indonesia and India will account for three quarters of these new urban dwellers.

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